Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

Microsoft Outlook 2011, iCal and iCloud

Posted on: 13th October 2011 24 Comments

Almost as expected, there would be some Outlook 2011 issues with the introduction of iCloud this week. But this time, I blame Apple as much as I normally blame Microsoft.

For me, the issues was that my Outlook calendar went missing (as always). As many Outlook users, I use Sync Services to sync between Outlook and iCal, and therefore with my iPhone. But after I installed the latest Lion update, that laid the pavement for iCloud, and signed up for it, the Outlook calendar went blank. All of my calendar entries remained in iCal, but they did no longer talk.

Maybe a simple fix for this would be to turn of iCloud for my calendar, and just continue to sync that old school? Well, it turns out that when you turn of iCloud for the calendar, it removes iCloud content: And iCloud content means your entire calendar, even if the entries originated from iCal to begin with. Nice feature, Apple! If you turn it off on the iPhone, you can choose if you want to keep the calendar entries.

Deactivate iCloud warning

What do mean "user friendliness"? We've stopped doing that.

If you try to export your iCal calendar as an iCal archive, turn off iCloud, and import, the iCloud will be turned back on automatically.

So my solution to keep a happy sync between Outlook and iCal, was to export each calendar (for some reason I have many) from iCal as  .ics-files while on iCloud. Then turn of iCloud, import them in iCal, and we were back were we was before the update. If you want to merge some of your calendars you could do so, or keep them separated.

Export ics from iCal

Export ics from iCal

(Update 14/10: As Ian points out in his comment below: If you have a Time Machine backup of your system from before you turned on iCloud, you can use that for a roll back.)

Another solution would of course be to abandon Outlook, at least until something pulls out a finger from somewhere, and fixes this.

So now I can once again sync Outlook with my iPhone. Surprisingly, the address book sync works like a charm.

Maybe I’ll just go back to pen and paper.

I’m gonna grab me some screen

Posted on: 18th September 2011 No Comments

Sometimes I need to grab something that happens on my screen. May be for a blog post, a report, or just to show someone something funny.

Where I used to work before, I made a lot of manuals and instructions. And in this work, TechSmith’s SnagIt! became my trusted friend. This is a screen grabber with a lot of options, and it became a revelation to everyone who used it. However, when I moved forward and away from this job, I gave up SnagIt!, since I didn’t want to fork up for something I might get for free in another software. SnagIt! was developed for Windows (the one I’ve used), but has also been released as a Mac app.

After a tip from one of my tutors, I ended up with Jing, also from TechSmith. This is a free software (also comes a a more feature rich paid version), that gave me my basic screen grabbing options. I installed it on both my Mac and PC, and it works the same on both. When started, it features as a little sun on the top of your screen, and it easy to use. All very well.

As I write this, a free app called Skitch, is at number 6 in App Store for Mac’s list over most downloaded freeware. This, as Jing, is a app that sits happy in the background, until you need it, and you have you basic grabbing options covered. And, as the two mentioned above, it gives you the option to edit your grab by adding texts and arrows and other stuff to it, before saving or sending.

But it turns out, that for most of my grabbing needs, I need to look no further than my Mac keyboard. I come a very long way by just using these keyboard shortcuts:

cmd+shift+3 – Saves your screen as a image file
cmd+shift+fn+3 – Saves your screen on your clipboard
cmd+shift+4 – Saves a selection of choice as a image file
cmd+shift+fn+4 – Saves a selection of choice on you clipboard
cmd+shift+4, then hit space – Saves a chosen app window as a image file
cmd+shift+fn+4, then hit space – Saves a chosen app window on your clipboard

The best thing about this shortcut approach, is that the window you are grabbing, remains the active window. Because when you use a app to grab, this grab app becomes the active one, and the window you are grabbing, can fade. And that can give a not so good result.

Be aware, that when you grab a whole app window (by using cmd+shift+4, then push space), the image will be saved with an annoying, fancy shade around itself.

The images that are grabbed like this, is saved as PNG.

Clean install Mac OS X Lion

Posted on: 17th September 2011 3 Comments

When it comes to computers, there is nothing like a fresh OS install. Over the years as a Windows user, i used to do a fresh install now and then when the computer started dragging it’s legs. But I’ve never done it on my Mac, a Mac I’ve now filled with crap for two years. And it was now staring to show sign of lagging, and the upgrade to Lion didn’t make it any faster. So I decided to make a clean install of Lion, and start afresh.

The thing you need to make a clean install is a bootable device, a DVD or USB-stick, with the Lion installer on it. When you download Lion from the App Store, you are installing an install Lion package, that you execute when you are ready. In this package, you want to copy the file InstallESD.dmg over to your bootable device. To do so, you must open your Application folder in Finder, right click on it, and choose Show Package Contents. The file is in Contents\SharedSupport-folder. Copy it to your device, and you are ready to go.

When you do the upgrade, Lion deletes the install package. So if you did the upgrade without copying InstallSED.dmg first, you need to re-download the package from App Store. To do so, you must open App Store, and hold down the alt-button while you press the Purchased button. This will list your purchased history, with the option to install the Lion updater again. It seems like you can’t let go of the alt-button before the App Store has shown you the whole list. And after you download it once more, do copy the desired file to you device.

Before you make the clean install, make sure you take backup of everything you need to take backup of. To backup all of your users folders (desktop, documents, downloads, movies, music, pictures, sites) is probably a good tip. In addition it might be a good idea to copy your keychains.

I also made a list of my applications, and made sure I had all my serials stored somewhere safe (in my case Evernote). Apps bought from App Store can be re-installed with no hassle.

So on to the actually install. Pop in your device (I used a DVD) and restart the machine. When it starts to boot, hold down alt. This will give you a list of all your bootable devices. Your current OS X disk, the Lion recovery disk (if you already  have Lion installed), any BootCamp disks, and you Lion installer device. It is apparently slower to use a disk than a USB-stick. I used a DVD, and it took some seconds before it showed up next to the others. So when it decides to turn up, double click on it and you you will get the Lion menu.

On the Lion menu, you are here interested in two of the four options. You have Reinstall Lion of course, but before you go there, go in to the Disk Utility option. There you choose your OS partition (where you want to reinstall Lion) and use the erase option. Choose Mac OS Extended (journaled) as your format. When the partition is erased and data free, you go back, and choose Reinstall Lion. And Lion will be installed and you will be guided through the installation steps. You need to enter your App Store user name and password during these steps, so make sure you have them handy.

And so, you’ll hopefully end up with a new and fresh install, where everything works. Or everything crashes and burns. Anyway, it worked for me, and I think it doesn’t lag as much anymore. I could of course be delusional.

What remains is re-installing your software, and copying back your files. Be aware, that any software that came pre-intalled on your Mac when you bought it (like iPhoto, iMovie), are now gone, and you might be in trouble if you have no installation disks with these on.

And if everything goes tits up, you have always internet forums to shout at.

Display the “secret” preference pane in Twitter for Mac

Posted on: 15th September 2011 No Comments

The official Twitter client for Mac OS X, who was born Tweetie, has a hidden options pane. And it is this pane that has the option to show full names of the user in your Twitter feed, and not just the user names. It is possible to change to full name-view by entering this line in Terminal: defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac ShowFullNames 1. To disable, use 0 instead of 1. But to get this option into a menu, enter this line in terminal instead: defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac DebugMode -bool true.

 

Termial line to enable secret Twitter pane

Termial line to enable secret Twitter pane

And hey presto! Restart Twitter, and you will have a new menu under preferences.

 

Secret option pane in Twitter for Mac

Secret option pane in Twitter for Mac

This was originally meant as a secret thank you to those of us that had bought Tweetie before it transformed into the free Twitter client it is today. But why it hides such a vital option as view full name is beyond me.

Multiple IMAP accounts in Outlook 2010

Posted on: 8th September 2011 No Comments

I recently upgraded from Office 2007 to Office 2010 (thanks to Microsoft’s Big Steal for students) on my PC, and assumed I would find a feature in the new version of Outlook that I quite like in Outlook 2011 for Mac; common inbox folder for multiple IMAP accounts. But was it there? Nope, just the same separate setup as in Outlook 2007, that isn’t very user friendly.

One solution on how to replicate this feature in Outlook 2010, is to go wild with rules, and move new mail to a specific folder in Outlook. But since I’m using my IMAP accounts on several devices, this wouldn’t work for me. So the half baked solution I ended up with, was just the simple use of favorites. Drag each of the IMAP inboxes up to the Favorite field. At least then they are easy to spot.

IMAP inboxes in Office 2011 and 2010

IMAP inboxes in Office 2011 and 2010

Hopefully there are more people than me who thinks unified inbox for multiple IMAP inboxes is a good thing, and that Microsoft will add this as a feature to the Windows version of Outlook as well.